Frost Foiled

This morning didn't come without a little nervousness wondering if the plants in my greenhouse survived the light frost we had last night. I was totally thrilled to see that everything in the greenhouse survived even the plants that are touching the 8 foot high ceiling. In fact, everything looks awesome and I did a happy dance.

I grow my garden in a hoophouse style greenhouse which, is basically a ginormous row cover. This micro climate effectively "moves" my growing conditions 500 miles south by enabling planting to begin sooner, warmer temperatures, increased humidity, wind protection, and a bit of fall frost protection. Because of this system I am able to grow heirloom plants, especially tomatoes, that require a longer growing season. Krysta was surprised when she saw my tomato seed collection and limited me to 4 varieties to plant: Sun Sugar for cherry-type, Super Marzano for Roma, Manitoba for "regular", and I insisted on Brandywine because they are darned good. I snuck in a Cherokee Purple to see how it would do. Krysta experimented with a myriad of peppers. I rounded out by planting cucumbers and melons to see how they would fare out. Of course potatoes (4 varieties) were planted in 2 types of growing environments: raised bed and raised bed but with ground access.

So what happened over the growing season and is continuing? I have tomatoes plants that are 8 feet high and taking over the world. Peppers are up to my chest. Cucumbers are the biggest I've seen measuring in at 15 inches long, a rogue pumpkin is ripe on the vine, and I have about 8 decent size muskmelons on the vine. A lot of firsts happened this growing season and I am thrilled. However right about now I watch the weather forecast like a hawk for the impending "doom" of a frost with about a month of gorgeous weather. The trick is to get over the frost strike and until thus far, have been unsuccessful until last night.

To prepare for last night I picked the big Brandywine and Cherokee Purple tomatoes to both have them safe in the house as well as any smaller tomatoes will now get the resources for growing if frost survival does occur. A armload of cucumbers were carried into the house to ensure their safety. We also filled water barrels to stabilize the heat and keep the in-greenhouse temperature high enough to prevent frost. That was the theory anyway.

Well it worked! All plants are fantastic and I can look forward to more tomatoes, more cucumbers, a real vine-ripened pumpkin, and (for the very first time) melons! Krysta is overjoyed with the peppers and I will be now harvesting the mints (I have 3 varieties) as well as the basil and parsley.

This gardening season was filled with firsts ranging from raised beds, to soil, to types of plants, to evading frost and it turned out spectacular. One thing I can say is that I'm looking forward to next planting season as I have my list to plant, including watermelon.

Here's what my greenhouse jungle looks like.

Sherri Donohue
My Blog